Adjustable gearing



Feb. 1, 1955 BOHME 2,700,903

ADJUSTABLE GEARING Filed Aug. 16, 1950 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Fig.1. ig

INVENTOR 4 Bo'A /m Feb. 1, I H. BGHME ADJUSTABLE GEARING Filed Aug. 16, 1950 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 IN VENTOR HflA/s Haw/E United States Patent ADJUSTABLE GEARING Hans Biihme, Krefeld, Germany Application August 16, 1950, Serial No. 179,801 Claims priority, application Germany August 17, 1949 6 Claims. (Cl. 74-395) The present invention relates to a repeating device of cloth printing machines or the like. The term repeating shall be understood to designate the reproduction of one and the same printing pattern.

The known repeating devices have the disadvantage that they are expensive as they consist of too many members and require a special electric motor for the shifting appliance.

It is an object of this invention to overcome this drawback by providing a simple construction which comprises arranging between each repeat wheel and the center wheel an intermediate shaft, the intermediate wheels of which are adjustable with respect to their relative positions by means of a shifting gear system. The shifting appliance may consist of a planet gear system designed as a jumping gear system and arranged on the intermediate shaft, its planet wheel support being rotatable round the intermediate shaft. By turning said planet wheel support the planet wheel rolls on two gears which change their relative position owing to their different numbers of teeth. To this end, the planet wheel support loosely supported on the shaft and connected with a gear is capable of being coupled, through swingable gears with different numbers of teeth, with a gear connected to the intermediate shaft. These swingable gears may for instance be supported by a crank arm which is swingable by means of a handle or may be operated by a magnet or the like.

With such a construction, the hitherto applied method of different numbers of repeat wheel teeth may be preserved in the case of different roller diameters, but in order to ensure, at any time, full engagement of the wheels and to avoid the necessity for exchanging the repeat wheels, the housing in which the intermediate shafts are supported may according to the invention be capable of being turned round the main driving shaft. In this way, one sole repeat wheel will be sufficient for a plurality of printing rollers.

Further objects and advantages of the present invention will be apparent from the following description reference being had to the accompanying drawingswhereln a preferred embodiment of the present invention is clearly shown.

Figure 1 is a section in the direction of the line I--I of Figure 3;

Figure 2 is a section in the direction of the line II-II of Figure l;

Figure 3 is a cross section in the direction of the line III-III of Figure l on a reduced scale, and

Figure 4 is another position of the parts shown in Figure 3.

The cloth printing machine consists as s known in the art of the printing base 1 and the printing rollers 2 which are disposed with their shafts 3 around said printing base. In Figures 3 and 4 for instance are shown two shafts only, but there may be provided, of course, ten or twelve printing rollers or even more of them. The repeat wheel 4 mounted on the shaft 3 of the printing roller 2 cogs with an intermediate wheel 5 fixedly connected to the intermediate shaft 6. Loosely mounted on said intermediate shaft is the gear 7 engaging with the center wheel 8.

The repeating is done by changing, by means of a shifting gear system, the position of the wheels 5 and 7 one with respect to another. Said shifting gear system is in a housing 9 together with the intermediate wheels 5 and 7 and the center wheel 8, said housing being closed by a lid 10. By using such closed housing 9 the hitherto exist- 2,700,903 Patented Feb. 1, 1955 ing great danger of accidents as regards hand injuries will be obviated.

By means of pins, screws 12 or the like, another gear 11 is rigidly connected to the intermediate wheel 7, a gear 13 keyed on the intermediate shaft 6 being disposed beside said gear 11, A planet wheel 14 engages with these two wheels 11 and 13. The wheels 11 and 13 have different numbers of teeth so that they change their relative positions when the planet wheel 14 revolves on its shaft 16 fastened to the planet wheel support 15. On the hub of the planet wheel support 15 there is mounted a gear 17. Beside said gear 17, another gear 18 having the same diameter is mounted on the intermediate shaft 6, said gear 18 also being keyed on the intermediate shaft 6. The two wheels 17 and 18 likewise have different numbers of teeth. As a result they change their relative positions when the two gears 19 and 20 engage with them. The two wheels 19 and 20 are rigidly connected to the shaft 21 which is fastened to a crank arm 22. Said crank arm is connected to a shaft 23 which goes through the closing lid 24 of the planet gear system and is capable of being swung by means of a hand lever 25.

The planet gear system comprising the wheels 11, 13 and 14 thus constitutes a jumping gear system, which means that the wheels 11 and 13 have different numbers of teeth although their outer diameters are alike, and the planet wheel engages with both wheels simultaneously. Such arrangement nearly has a self-locking effect.

The repeating device operates as follows: When all the printing rollers are properly set, the gears 19 and 20 are swung out by means of the lever 25 so that they do not engage with the wheels 17 and 18. The printing roller 2 is then driven by means of the center wheel 8 through the gears 7, 11 and 13, the two latter gears being coupled by the planet wheel 14, which does not revolve on its own axis but around the intermediate shaft 6. The gear 13 sets to rotation the intermediate shaft 6 and therewith the gear 5 through which the repeat wheel 4 and therewith the printing roller 2 are driven. At the same time the gear 18 is turned by the shaft 6, but no further movement is derived from said gear 18 if the machine works properly. However, if it is necessary to adjust a printing roller and, therefore, to use the repeating device, the gears 19 and 20 are swung by means of the lever 25 until they engage with the gears 17 and 18. The latter wheels also showing different numbers of teeth the wheel 17 changes its position relative to the wheel 18 and, as a result, the planet wheel support 15 changes its position with respect to the wheel 11 engaged by the wheel 7. The planet wheel 14 now revolves on its own axis 16 thus adjusting, because of the different number of teeth, the wheel 13 and therewith the intermediate shaft 6 as well as, through the wheel 5, the repeat wheel 4, so that the repeating device may be set properly.

With such device it is possible to use, in a manner hitherto practiced, several repeat wheels having different numbers of teeth in combination with printing rollers of different diameters. However, in order to avoid this the housing 9 with its lid 10 is according to this invention capable of rotating on the main driving shaft 28 supported by the machine bearer wall 26 and in a bearing 27, as shown in Figure 1. In this way it is possible to swing the intermediate shafts according to Figure 3 by turning v the housing when the distance between the axes of the center wheel 8 and the repeat wheels 4 changes. The housing 9 is fastened to the bearer wall 26 and retained in its required position by means of screws 29 going through slots 30 of its wall. Figure 3 shows the position of the wheels 4, 5, 7 and 8 when the distance between the center wheel 8 and the repeat wheels 4 is greatest, whereas Figure 4 shows the position of said wheels as resulting when the distance is smaller and the housing is swung to change its position.

Owing to the possibility of changing the position of the housing with the intermediate shaft 6 by said swinging movement, one sole repeat wheel will be sufficient for the purpose in question within a large range of diameters, the fact that it is always possible to make the wheels fully engage with one another being an additional advantage.

What I claim is:

1. A repeating device for use with a printing roller of cloth printing machines or the like comprising a roller shaft, a drive shaft, a center gear wheel operatively connected to the drive shaft, a repeat gear wheel carried by the roller shaft, an intermediate shaft arranged between said gear wheels, gear wheels mounted loosely and fixedly on said intermediate shaft, one of said gear wheels being in mesh with said center gear wheel while the other gear wheel meshes with said repeat wheel, and an adjusting gear associated with said intermediate shaft for changing the angular position of said intermediate gear wheels with respect to each other on the intermediate shaft.

2. A repeating device for use with a printing roller of cloth printing machines or the like comprising a roller shaft, a drive shaft, a center gear wheel operatively connected to the drive shaft, a repeat gear wheel carried by the roller shaft, an intermediate shaft arranged between said center and repeat gear wheels, gear wheels mounted loosely and fixedly on said intermediate shaft, one of said gear wheels being in mesh with said center gear wheel while the other gear wheel meshes with said repeat wheel, and a planet gear assembly for changing the angular position of said intermediate gear wheels with respect to each other on said intermediate shaft, the sun wheel of said planet gear assembly including two wheels of the same diameter but having different numbers of teeth whereby the planet Wheel support may rotate around the intermediate shaft.

3. A repeating device according to claim 2 further characterized in that the wheel on the intermediate shaft in mesh with said center gear wheel is coupled through a gear wheel of said planet gear and by means of another planet gear wheel with a wheel fixedly connected to said intermediate shaft.

4. A repeating device according to claim 3 further characterized in that the planet wheel support is provided with a gear wheel, a further gear wheel fixed on said intermediate shaft and swingable gear wheels for coupling said support gear wheel with said further gear wheel on said intermediate shaft.

5. A repeating device according to claim 4 further characterized in that a crank arm for supporting said swingable gear wheels, and means for swinging said crank arm.

6. A repeating device for use with printing rollers of cloth printing machines or the like comprising roller shafts, a main driving shaft, center gear wheel operatively connected to the drive shaft, a repeat gear wheel carried by each roller shaft, an intermediate shaft for each roller shaft, said intermediate shafts being arranged between said center gear wheel each of said repeat wheels, intermediate gear wheels mounted on each of said intermediate shafts, adjusting gear means associated with each of said intermediate shafts for changing the angular position of said intermediate gear wheels with respect to one another on each of said intermediate shafts, and a housing for supporting each of said intermediate shafts and adapted for rotation with respect to said main shaft.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,315,377 McGiehan Sept. 9, 1919 2,110,272 Mayer Mar. 8, 1938 2,234,674 Jacobson Mar. 11, 1941 FOREIGN PATENTS 565,749 Great Britain Nov. 27, 1944 

